How David Bowie, Prince & Others Inspired New Ghost LP

An artist's influences aren't always immediately apparent in their work, and many — if not most — rock fans have been surprised at one point or another by the music that helped inspire some of their favorite records — a tradition that Ghost has now added to with the revelation that the band's new Prequelle LP was inspired by Lemmy Kilmister, David Bowie and Prince.

As bandleader Tobias Forge told Metal Hammer in a recent interview, this doesn't necessarily mean fans should expect to hear songs that sound like any of the aforementioned acts. Rather, it was the shock of each artist's passing that fed into Prequelle, which Forge described as an album "themed with death and the impending end."

Perhaps unsurprisingly given Ghost's sound, it was Lemmy's loss that loomed largest for Forge. "When Lemmy passed away, and Bowie and Prince so close to that, it affected me a lot. It feels like our parents are passing," he explained. "I think we took people like Lemmy for granted – he was going to sit at our table forever, but now, there is a chair that is loudly empty. It’s definitely affected me way more than I thought it would."

Those feelings may be felt thematically more than explicitly on the new album, which has been prefaced with the tongue-in-cheek introduction of Ghost's "new" frontman, Cardinal Copia. Still, Forge — who has describedPrequelle as "very sincere" — took personal as well as creative inspiration from those feelings of loss.

"It’s made me want to be a little bit more attentive when it comes to trying to make sure that you’re making the best of the opportunities that you have with your seniors," he added. "That is something that has affected me and this record a lot."